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Ian Birrell

Columnist & Foreign Correspondent

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Africa / Arts / Books / Ghana

A glorious tale of greed

Published by The Spectator (26th August, 2023) Anansi’s Gold: The Man Who Swindled the World by Yepoka Yeebo In the early months of 1981, investors in a Swiss […]

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Aid / Politics

Good riddance to the self-serving Department for International Narcissists

Published by The Daily Mail (June 17th, 2020) One of Tony Blair’s first actions in government after winning the 1997 election was to weaken British diplomacy by spinning […]

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Aid / Politics

Don’t tinker with the foreign aid target – just bin it

Published by The Sun (12th February, 2019) THE Tories are in a pickle – and not just on Brexit. They tried to cloak themselves in compassion by chucking […]

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Africa / Aid / Ghana

The charity guru who duped the world

Published by UnHerd (24 October, 2018) It is hard to think of a more famous global academic than Jeffrey Sachs. He advises the United Nations, collaborates with presidents, […]

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Africa / Aid / Ghana

Proof that foreign aid does not work

Published by The Mail on Sunday (14th October, 2018) As I drove through villages in northern Ghana, bumping along pitted dirt roads and passing mud-splattered men pushing bicycles, […]

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Africa / Aid / General / Ghana

Africa’s leaders look to move beyond control and charity of aid

Published by UnHerd (7th December, 2017) Few people are in better position to observe the pace of political change across Africa than the Sudanese-born billionaire Mo Ibrahim. Flying […]

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Africa / Aid / Arts / Books

Double standards, grateful dictators

Published by The Observer (4th May, 2014) The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor (Perseus) Last year I flew to Kenya to […]

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Africa / Aid / General

Aid groups have blinded Britain to the realities of Africa

Published in The Independent (January 9th, 2013) Recep Erdogan, the astute prime minister of Turkey, is on a tour of Africa. His entourage includes 300 business leaders from […]

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Aid / China / India / World

Forget aid and target inequality

Published in Prospect (November 9th, 2012) Should Britain give aid to India? For a hefty majority of people in this country, the answer is clear: it is absurd […]

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Aid / Ghana

African village where every household is getting £7,500 from British taxpayers spent on them

Published in The Daily Mail (June 30th, 2012) As I drew up in the bustling village after a long journey, the last  21 miles bouncing along a red  […]

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Aid

Before you pay to volunteer abroad, think of the harm you might do

Published in The Observer (November 14th, 2010) By 10pm, the aptly named Bar Street is pulsating with tourists drawn to Siem Reap by the famous Cambodian ruins of […]

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Africa / Aid / General

The other side of modern Africa

Published in The Independent (December 7th, 2008) The disintegration of Zimbabwe continues. The killing goes on in Congo and Darfur. And Aids continues to devastate the lives of […]

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Ian Birrell is an award-winning columnist, foreign correspondent, feature writer and investigative journalist. He is contributing editor of The Mail on Sunday, a weekly columnist in The i Paper and writes frequently for other papers and platforms. He is also co-founder with Damon Albarn of Africa Express, the acclaimed collaborative music project. (Pictured: Talking to refugees in Iraq fleeing Islamic State)... Read More.

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